1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a billing method and device of a remote maintenance system for an industrial device and more particularly to a remote maintenance method and a remote maintenance system and device for enabling control and thorough services and billing according to the contents of maintenance.
2. Prior Art
Conventionally, it is proposed to connect an industrial device of a manufacturer to a maintenance center of a device supply vendor via a public telephone line or Internet and remote-maintain the industrial device from the maintenance center. Japanese Application Patent Laid-open Publication No. Hei 11-15520 proposes a remote maintenance system using a network and by use of this system, regardless of the installation region of an industrial device, the industrial device can be maintained.
In recent years, particularly in the semiconductor industry, the number of installed industrial devices is rapidly increased due to a sudden increase in capital investment. In such a state, the maintenance cost of industrial devices is likely to increase and it is a problem how to suppress the maintenance cost. However, the previous general billing method for maintenance is a method for billing a manufacturer for a fixed charge on the basis of the cost of an industrial device and the labor costs of service persons and even when no device is maintained actually, there is a case that the manufacturer must pay the fixed charge. Further, in the remote maintenance system disclosed in Japanese Application Patent Laid-open Publication No. Hei 11-15520, no billing method is described.